Goodbye webOS, we hardly knew ye’

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It is interesting to note that in the final chapter in the webOS saga is HP has decided to open-source the operating system HP received in the purchase of Palm back in 2010.  George Santayana once wrote in his Reason in Common Sense that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  Apparently, the brain trust at HP has failed to understand that very famous quote.  No handset vendor (such as Samsung, LG or Qualcomm) looking to differentiate themselves from Google now that Google owns Motorola Mobile was willing to pay pennies on the dollar to HP for webOS. Apparently, HP believes that the developers and the marketplace would embrace an OS that is open source that they would not embrace otherwise.  However, the past is littered with software that was open-sourced in a last-ditch attempt to revitalize the platform, believing that developers would flock to it once it was open-sourced and carry its banner forward.  However, this did not work out so well for operating systems such as Symbian.   While a group of enthusiasts may come forward to keep webOS alive (look at the Be operating system as an example), it will not be the droves that is needed to convince a hardware vendor to build a product with.  I think I see the closing credits rolling now.
12/15/2011 – update
I would highly recommend this blog post: How HP and open source can save WebOS, it takes a more in-depth look at the issues facing HP and their attempt to revitalize the webOS platform by placing it in the Open Source world.